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THE GREAT WHITE WALL 



The Great White Wall 

A POEM 

By 

WILLIAM ROSE BENET 

It 

ILLUSTRATED BY DOUGLAS DUER 




New Haven: Yai.e University Press 

London: Humphrey Milford 

Oxford University Press 

MDCCCCXVI 






Copyright, 1916, by 
Yale University Press 

First published, December, 1916 




DEC -I 1916 



©GI.A446708 



TO 
HENRY MARTYN HOYT, Jr. 



THE GREAT WHITE WALL 



THE GREAT WHITE WALL 



The Lion's Soul 

Along the purple mountain chains 
The smouldering crimson sunset ran. 
It seemed to chant of him who reigns 
Beyond all reach of caravan. . . 

"Genghiz Khan lies in the Mountain Altai, 
The wild red Mongol raider, Genghiz Khan ! 

"From the country of eternal dark 
The great blue wolf of his fathers howls. 
The Mountain Altai thrusts its stark 
High buttress over the spreading cowls 
Of obeisant shadows prone on the plain. 
Passed is his violent crimson reign. 
Genghiz Khan lies in the Mountain Altai. 
Around his rock-hewn tomb the tiger prowls ! 

"Son of a stolen woman, born 

By a river on a battle-night, 

Ten thousand headmen heard his horn 

Buffet the crags with echoes bright. 

He scourged Al-addin and all Cathay, 

And drank from Wang Khan's skull, they say,- 

[ 1 ] 





The Great White Wall 

From Karakoram crouching sprang 

To ravage the great walled land of Wang. 

"Genghiz Khan lies in the Mountain Altai, 
With his four strong sons whose names are swords 
that clang!" 

The singer in Timur's tent dropped his throbbing drum. 

"Sepah Salar, great Lord^ your slave is dumb !" 

With a bear's broad spread of breast^ arched like a bow, 

Long purple hair^ fierce yellow eyes aglow, 

He who had now attained Balkh's jewelled throne 

Rose in his robes. 

"Go ! I would be alone." 

Perfumed with ambergris, in gold brocade 
He paced the pavilion. Suddenly he stayed 
His steps. 

Beneath his feet rich rugs, ablaze 
With color, pulsed turquoise and ruby lights. A haze 
Of violet incense swirled in the silken gloom. 
Twelve poles upheld this spacious travelling-room. 
Inlaid with gold and silver. Two hundred cords 
Of silk, without, were stretched as straight as swords 
To ebony pegs. Within, beyond the throne, 
A large couch loomed crusted with beryl stone. 
And rumpled rose-silk cloths across it spread. 
Amid swinging lamps the tent soared overhead 
Sewn with bright silver-gilt besants on red. 

[3 ] 




The Great White Wail 

And close outside could be heard a murmur of men. 
The clatter of weapons, a camel's gurgle, again 
The squeal and thump of an elephant, jangling voices 
In various tongues — all a camp's unquiet noises. 

Within, under pillared dragons with widespread wings. 
Great Timur pondered the ebb and flow of things. 

Then he clapped his hands. A slave, on swarthy knees, 
Crawled in. 

"Fetch the Lord Axalla, The Genovese !" 
And lithe like a leopard the Chief resumed his stride 
Till the tent-flap stirred again. Close at his side 
Stood that earliest friend and Christian. 

"Your pleasure. Lord!" 

"Axalla, think you a Berlas can afford 

To brook these rumors I hear about me now? 

Doth Timur mean 'It trembles !' — the World? Then how 

May I reconcile this news of the haughty imperious 

Late trespasses of the Chinese?" 

Gravely serious 
Axalla pondered. 

"Lord," (his voice was even) 
" 'Tis the sundry kinds of folk 'neath the cope of Heaven 
Do most truly give us Heaven to magnify. 
(I but speak your own words !) For Heaven by diver- 
sity 
Is nourished most — and God is one in essence." 
Quietly dignified in the shadowing presence, 

[ 3 ] 






The Great White Wall 

He inclined his head a little^, and waited mute 
Green-sashed, of good poise in his Shiraz-silken suit. 

"Nay, old friend, you mistake me — this is not Holy War. 
Through the Indian land 'twas the Prophet I battled for. 
But here I assure my estate, my mission rounds. 
And — this King of China hath broken his ancient bounds. 
He is puffed up with vainglory, this boasting one 
Sends no more ambassadors, calls himself Child of the 

Sun, 
And behind the forty-league wall that Genghiz rent 
Asunder as might a tiger the silk of a tent. 
Behind his enheartening wall his garrisons 
Laugh at mine uncle the Khan. . . I must act at once !" 

"Where hath he trespassed?" 

"The Province of Leauton 
Complains. The border provinces everyone 
Have been raided — cattle and women and harvest 

thieved ! 
Last night, two foot-posts running with lights achieved 
The palace at Quinsai — a horseman relayed it to me 
This nooning. Their girdles of bells rang mournfully. 
He said, in the courtyard. Shrilly they began 
Afar off shouting, 'The viceroys beseech the Khan, 
The provinces call to the Khan! They are caught in 

mesh 
And snared by China ! Where is the Sun of Kesh 
Who can deliver us .^ Succour, succour we pray !' 
And I cry, by our Tartar Earth-god, Natigay, 
It shall not be I" 

[ 4 ] 



The Great White Wall 



Axalla raised one slow hand. 
"Nay — One God — above . . he is better to understand 
Prayers ! But these provinces I cannot trust. 
They quarrel among themselves. They have a lust 
For insurrection." 

"Enough !" said Timur then. 
"I have spoken, Axalla. Bid all my chiefs and men — 
Yet stay ! We shall feast, a sumptuous repast 
Must be spread this night — for this is the very last 
We spend by Quinsai. Tomorrow we march for the 

South 
To thrust his treacherous tail in the Dragon's mouth ! 

"Make ready the great camp-tables. I shall come forth 
Tonight. The Khan, mine uncle, rides in from the north 
Before the new moon has risen. He shares my plan." 

Axalla bowed and withdrew. He knew this man 
Through whom a poison of secret madness ran. 
Ah, God nor devil could turn him once he would start. 
And the King of China's dominions had fired his heart ! 

Axalla moved swiftly about the camp with orders. 
For almost a mile on each side it stretched its borders. 
With thousands of tents, herds of cattle and goats and 

sheep. 
Great wains and carts with their plunder burdened deep. 
And legions of horsemen and footmen. 

He quickly selected 
A rabble of slaves. Full valiantly they erected 

[ 5 ] 





The Great White Wall 

The state camp-table, only for Timur himself 

When he deigned to dine with the others. On oven and 

shelf 
They ranged the banquet materials. Fires flared up 
Along the plain. For now the heaven's blue cup. 
Vast and inverted over their heads, was alight 
With swarms of silver stars. Tall torches bright, 
Sputtering bitumen, and thrust like spears in the ground 
Spattered bloody flaughts through the shadows prowling 

around. 
With thought to sup, the camp's dull clamor increased. 
And for full an hour the uproar of man and beast 
Beat like a sea round the tent of Timur the Great. 

But within, the Chief had shrugged off affairs of state 
And, wandering toward the back, had raised a certain 
Brilliant, bird-embroidered, mysterious curtain. 
He thrust forth his purple head with a cooing noise 
On his lips. 

And there answered him an indrawn voice 
Like distant summer thunder, a rasping growl 
That was nearer a purr. 

As his head moved, cheek by jowl 
To a lion's great black juba you saw it bending. 
Then, erect, he drew back the curtain. 

Catlike descending 
On thick pads, the topaz-eyed Numidian beast 
Blinked in the jewelled light. His content increased. 

[ 6 ] 




The Great AVhite Wall 

He turned to the throne. He leapt up on the golden 

throne 
And sat silent facing Timur. 

The two were alone. 

Then — this was enough to set the blood acrawl ! — 
Slowly the Conqueror bowed his head^ to fall 
On his knees before the lion^ that took the mould 
Of bronze, so quiet he sat. 

"O Kublai, behold. 
Ancestor, Khan whose palace at Kanbalu 
Was the marvel of ten nations, whose hunting drew 
The most famous leopards and falcons from far and 

near, 
Whose sorcerers wrought all miracles, whose gear 
Surmounted all treasuries, who kept aright 
What Genghiz won, yet ruled in a higher light, — 
Have I not overcome the Muscovite 
And scourged the Jetes, made Persia tribute pay. 
Brought India to the Prophet's light of day, 
Defended mine uncle, thy grandson; kept the laws, 
Respected faithfully the Syeds' cause. 
Brought union unto Maveralnaher 
Despite all rebels, — plied the silver spur 
Of Honor as I rode the horse of Day? 
Lord of great Kubel's seed, whom Teragay 
Called uncle, — thou who lit the lamps that be 
The only kingly — Justice and Equity 
That light the air-hung palace of Royalty, — 

[ 7 ] 






The Great White Wall 

King in the shadow of God, of Noah's line. 
Bestow thy grace on this design of mine !" 

Were it not death to pass the Chief's tent-door 
At this hour of twilight, many had been struck sore 
Amazed to see him grovelling on the floor 
Clutching the three broad steps of the golden throne 
Whereon a staring lion sat alone. 

The lion turned and shook its kingly head. 
Then — from a white-fanged, dark red mouth, it said, 
"Timur ! No warning from the worse than dead 
Could turn you from your pride. I see your tread 
Smoke along lands where now life lies like light 
Warmly and kind. I see the bitter blight 
Of your black breath sow crimson conflagration 
Through hills and valleys of many a peaceful nation. 
Ah, with the new moon on Mount Altai risen. 
Know you not Genghiz writhes from out the prison 
Of the grave a blind white snake — that tigers there 
Crawl from the rocks and ring him round, and scare 
His filmed eyes, creeping in the blue moonlight 
With lingering steps flexuous, left and right, — 
Great cats with orange fur and ebony-black 
Slashed stripes ? And then with talons they attack 
The poor pale reptile. Deftly with paw they strike, 
Withdrawing — and again — and as they like 
They play the poor snake rustling here and there 
Over the cruel rocks. From lair to lair 

[ 8 ] 




The Great White Wall 



They leap, noiseless, and bandy the tattered thing 
That once was Genghiz — a Conqueror, and a King ! 
But you have only heard your minstrels sing 
Of his red triumphs, and how his death bereft!" 

The lion ceased. Its mournful face was cleft 
By a weary yawn. It looked not Timur's way, 
Swiftly leapt down, slank to the curtain gay 
And was gone behind it, where its cage of state 
Adjoined the cage of Timur, called the Great. 



II 



The Camp Banquet 

Timur with his chiefs was dining. 

Proudly red were the torches shining. 

Golden poniards, bright-dyed sashes. 

Gleamed through the smoke and the torches' flashes! 

An envoy from the Old Mountain Man 

Faced The Meteor of Khorassan. 

Nasir Addeen, a Minister, 

Leaned across the table to confer 

With a Scythian captain. There sat chiefs 

From Kashgar and Shadman, rinsing their beef's 

Great haunch with a golden drink for darers 

Poured them by hovering cup-bearers. 

Calibes and Odmar, the heads of forces. 

Talked with the Prince of Thanais — of horses. 

[9] 





The Great White Wall 

Ambassadors lied, each one a rogue, 

From King Dor's to that of the Paleologue 

0£ Greece. But the envoy of King Dor, 

Somewhat drunk, expounded his reasons for 

His Damsel Court. They were quite immoral ! 

So (from far Thibet, where women hang coral 

About dull idols' necks so stony. 

In the Great Eight Kingdoms, and where huge bony 

Dogs grow as big as young jack-asses, 

And necromancers cause tempests in glasses) 

Two legates began to bellow with laughter. 

Drowning their mirth in their goblets after. 

There were also prelates, hermits, and dervishes. 
(The last eating most!) Black slaves, that serve 

fishes. 
Roast deer, camel's meat, melons or fruits. 
Moved lithely in loin-cloths or silken suits. 
White Cosmos was poured, the Tartar's mare's-milk. 
And the goat's rather clabbered gift, who shares milk 
Also with Man. There were amirs and sirdars. 
Chiefs noted for various frightful murders, 
Kazis and muftis, and many a man 
From Syria and Hindustan. 
In royal khalats some judges sat. 
There were begums and moguls, and several fat 
Syeds in sables and armalines 
Worth quite two thousand sultanines ; 
And every jaw was gratefully crunching 
Buffalo-chops, all teeth were munching 

[ 10 ] 




The Great White Wall 



Cephalonian raisins, pomegranates from Ind, 
Almond, citron, or tamarind. 

And one Nestorian monk was still 

Quivering with a curious thrill 

As he told his tale of how he went flop 

Headlong in the haunted Desert of Lop 

When a great mysterious face appeared 

On one mountain, and wagged a grisly beard 

Above him, and all the spirits wailed "Whooo !" 

Round him and round him, smoky and blue. 

He was telling it in a vein quite merry 

To a Sensin from Lapith's monastery 

Where they all are austere and dress in yellow 

And worship fire. Do you know, the fellow 

Hadn't the slightest sense of humor. 

He listened with rather hostile gloom — or, 

More like, spleen. "Was it worth repeating!" 

You could hear him think. . . He went on eating. 

But beyond was — the Pole Star of Religion, 
And he was splendid ! As bald as a widgeon 
And shimmering in his robes he sat 
Asleep, with a cock to his marvellous hat 
Made of paper prophecies. Fact enjoins 
He had bound his own shawl around Timur's loins 
And placed his own cap on the Conqueror's hair 
(And this meant power over earth and air!) 
Blessing the youth, not as yet to start his 
Nice little forays and slaughter-parties. . . 

[ 11 ] 




'"^v^: 






The Great White Wall 

And magicians and astrologers, 

Seers and crystal-gazers and sorcerers, 

All with conjuration or mumbled prayer 

Or fireworks spitting sparks into the air. 

With quadrant and square of prophecy 

And astrolabe and divinity 

And long gowns worked with a thousand wonders, 

And voices lifted in practised thunders. 

And divining rods like wavering tentacles 

And others to trace the mystic pentacles, — 

All such hovered about the fringes. 

Then Timur suddenly gave them twinges 

Of boredom by calling, if you please. 

For "The Chant of Timur's Victories." 

'Twas a fighting-song. Men not fain to gird heard 

Its summons — and after — gladly murdered ! 

A song-man smote his horn harp to begin 

While some slaves thrummed drums of crocodile-skin. 



Chant of Terrible Timur 

The lofty mountain Kaf commands the world, and higl 

thereon there stands 
The nest of burning Phoenix, clapping wings for jubilee 
Of Timur, he whose luminous mind took up the Prophet's 

power assigned 
And tossed the infidel nations on the horns of Tartary ! 



[ 12 ] 



The Great White Wall 



Hear of great Timur! This is he, the loaded earth's 

strong axle-tree. 
Kingdoms like shattered potsherds hath he ground 

beneath his heel. 
The shadow of God falls on his way, the dazzling light, 

the goodly ray. 
The sun and moon before his gaze in dazed amazement 

reel ! 

From Fars to Maveralnaher long since a great Astrologer 
And Prophet came. His garments' skirts gleamed many 

a magic sign. 
Unto the Khan he straight foretold, from portents new 

and scriptures old, 
Rejeb the red auspicious star a light to rise and shine. 

And in that light, whose blaze appears thirty and seven 

hundred years 
Since the Hegira holy, lo, a marvel should ensue: 
The awful and tremendous birth of one to conquer all 

the Earth, 
The birth of terrible Timur that the waiting heavens 

knew ! 

And Timur's parent, Teragay, falling in trance at close 

of day 
Perceived the luminous figure of some great Arabian 

mage. 
Toward that long-mourned Sepah Salar he held a naked 

scimitar. 

[ 13 ] 




The Great White Wall 




Teragay whirled and fenced with it, possessed of raptur- 
ous rage. 

Then from that blade such sparkles danced as lit the 

heavens and shook entranced 
A wild illuminate earth, and from the hand that held it 

rushed 
A fountain-jet whose waters wide made green the world. 

This signified 
What but the birth of Timur, on whose day the world' 

was hushed! 

He stands Muhammed's minister, named from the Koran; 

trulier 
Than ever king; he holds upright the pillars of the law. 
His lineage from the Moguls draws — though Kubel's 

seed he slew for cause 
To cleanse the kingdoms. Rigorously he bends them to 

his awe. 

Arabian Irac knew his spear in youth ; and for the good 
Amyr 

Melk Hussyn from the bleach-green on through Khoras- 
san was borne. 

Kutlug, the Amyr's son-in-law — dastard assassin — saw 
him draw 

And rout the treacherous Seven on the Prince's hunting- 
morn. 

And Timur Khan who overran the palace of the murdered 
Khan 

[ 14^ ] 




The Great White Wall 

Our Lord plucked writhing from the throne, thrust off his 

treacherous friends, 
And scourged the Jetes to howl and flee. Kings bound 

their loins in fealty. 
All city chiefs, all nomad tribes to Tartary's farthest 

ends. 

He razed the ramparts of Systan and smote the lords of 
Badukhshan, 

Whose chepaval and shekaval, wild squadrons, he out- 
rode. 

Polonians, barbarians, Udecelains, Hungarians 

He gripped and threw, and on to new and vaster triumphs 
strode. 

His eyes were dilate lamps of light ! The army of the 
Muscovite 

Bowed to his arm at Mascha as bows down a field of 
grain. 

Tribute they bring in buckets still: three hundred thou- 
sand duckets. 

Three leagues he chased them flying, like a cyclone on 
the plain ! 

Where level Anatolia smiles his army stretched for fifteen 

miles. 
All that innumerable host shouting his name on high. 
The bending heavens are his bow, the earth his levelled 

shaft below. 
He holds the Gates of Iron, and his campfires scorch the 

sky. 

[ 15 ] 






The Great White Wall 

And galliots come to Trebizond, and caravans from lands 
beyond 

Send gifts and gold to Timur, Thibeth, Cashmere^ Tur- 
kestan. 

The hordes of Hussyn Sufy he shattered in wrath most 
terribly. 

Hitched to his household wain he drives the sun and 
moon in span. 

Khuariz subdued he; Balkh and Fars fell to his flashing 

scimitars. 
He razed the temples of Kukel o'er Indus as he came. 
The Brahmans' images he broke. Delhi, Jahanpanah 

were smoke 
Behind him. All of Hindustan was fuel for his flame ! 

He crossed the Ganges for his vow to rip and rend the 
Sacred Cow, 

Then turned on Kyser Bayazed, and put the sword to 
Riim. 

Huge j anizaries rank on rank before his scything swords- 
men sank. 

And black Egyptian mamelukes shrieked as they met 
their doom. 

And now disastrous civil war crushed swiftly at the River 

Br ore 
Restores him to his kingdom. On this night his glory 

glows. 

[ 16 ] 



The Great White Wall 



Imaus to Oxus shouts the song of Timur ! Timur ! Stars 

prolong 
The chant of Timur ! Timur ! and confusion to his foes ! 

The rocking, pounding rhythm of the paean ceased. 

Under the immense and turquoise vault of heaven 

The great camp smouldered and seethed like a fire 

quenched 
With golden liquors. 

All dark faces turned 
Toward Timur at the end of the long state table. 
He inclined his head. 

When suddenly a guard 
Stepped from crowding purple shadows into the torch- 
light 
And knelt, presenting his lance. 

"O sovereign Lord, 
Your uncle, the Khan, is arrived with his retinue 
Direct from Quinsai. Yet, having ridden fast 
And far, he will not join your feast tonight. 
He waits you in your tent." 

So Timur rose 
And every voice fell silent as he spoke. 

"My captains, and you others," were his words, 
"We march tomorrow with our full fighting strength 
For the Great Wall of China. This shall be 
The crown of our achievement, I have borne 
Too long the insolence of the Chinese King, 
My mind and sword busied on other matters. 
See to it, all ye who have my hosts in charge!" 

[ 17 ] 





'See to it, all ye who have my 
hosts in charge!^'' 




The Great White Wall 



III 

Visions on the March 

Sunlight shook on all the terrible shimmering shields of 
Timur's armies 

Marching to the Wall of China built by Chin the Only- 
First. 

In brilliant colors flowed the clouds of Heaven that past 
all gulling charm is 

Staunch forever, blind in love, above a world in fury 
nursed. 

Ho! The saddle is Timur's bed, his standards wave to 
music royal. 

Persian and Arabian horses toss their trappings, prance 
and fret. 

Scimitars gleam inlaid with silver, wielded by his cap- 
tains loyal. 

Elephants bear his castled howdahs, solid gold with 
rubies set. 

Amyrs ride and sirdars ride and moguls ride on milky 
horses — 

Purple, green, and crimson silks and turbans wound and 
tufted shoes 

Enrich his rustling retinue. The captains of his tramp- 
ing forces 

Gleam in brass and silver, studded on lacquered leather. 
And hues confuse 

And clash and swim through golden clouds of dust about 
four-poled pavilions 

[ 19 ] 





The Great White Wall 

Full one hundred^ floored with rugs of soft and glowing 

Bokhara weaves. 
Ho ! The loud imperious drum of state shakes out for 

all the millions 
A deep-toned beat to time their feet. Thin soft tissues, 

silken sleeves. 
Ivory arms and half-veiled faces swim in a mist from 

swaying litters. 
Wild outriders toss their lances flashing against the set- 
ting sun. 
Pheasant feather and peacock plume from many a march- 
ing headdress glitters. 
Bows on backs, a crowd of archers bronzely swings along 

as one. 
Herds of antelope, goat, and nihlgao straggle along the 

armies' fringes. 
Mimicks, sorcerers, and buffoons in particolored costumes 

pass. 
Dancing girls with golden anklets trip in the desert dust 

that singes. 
High upheld above their bearers, banners stream from 

poles of brass. 
Over all the embroidered arms of Samarcand, The City 

Splendid, 
Lion and Sun and Three Great Circles, threefold realms 

that signify, 
Blaze on a banner of gold brocade. 

And, densely by his troops attended, 
Odmar, leading the Avant-guard, to a blare of terrible 

horns goes by. 

[ 20 ] 



The Great White Wall 

His captains ride on piebald barbs. Crescent scimitars 

slash their sashes. 
Fifty thousand javeliniers rock past with a unison that 

thrills^ 
With light green marching loin-cloths bound — dark 

limbs on which the sunset flashes. 
Their front is spread like an open fan from the Eastern 

to the Western hills ! 

Following these^ the broad Battail, whose chiefs bestride 

black stamping stallions; 
Short-nosed men with blubber lips, drooped mustachios, 

scalp-locks black. 
Shaved heads gleaming, rank by rank they surge along 

in huge battalions. 
And sixteen squadrons of wheeling horse closely follow 

upon their track. 

And then, the shouting Arereward looms, its cavalcade 

of captains swarming, 
Caps and sashes of figured blue, saddles and housings 

j ewel-bright, — 
By companies forty thousand foot behind the Prince of 

Thanais forming! 
And last — the Horse Adventurers, the Hope Forlorn. 

And now the night 
Creeps down as laden camels pass with melons and 

grapes and dates all corded; 
The flocks of bleating black-faced sheep — the lumbering 

elephants once more — 

[ 21 ] 






The Great White Wall 

While hundreds of yoke of oxen draw the great wheeled 
houses, closely hoarded, 

Covered with black or mottled felts — weird paintings 
splashed on every door; 

And chests of wickers on other carts, with birds and 
beasts enscroUed for laughter ; 

The special tents of Timur's wives, their eunuchs strid- 
ing grim and tall; 

White tents for peace, and red for war, and black for 
mourning following after. 

Thus passed proud Timur's vast array that thundered 
down on the Great White Wall! 

Over the bronze and rugged Western hills 
The broad sun sank, a despot past his reign ; 
And, with the evening air that cools and thrills. 
Great purple shadows crept across the plain. 

The glitter and murmur of that marching host. 
Whip-crack and rasped command and trumpet-call. 
Animal ululations, — all was lost 
As an absorbing silence swallowed all. 

The sun's death burnished metal here and there 
To glance with light unknown to conquest's heat: 
A light like courage battling through despair. 
The sign of some victorious defeat. 

[ 23 ] 



The Great White Wall 



From East and West the mountains leaned^ and cast 
Abroad the spreading cold. Out of the rare 
Ether of summits it settled down at last 
Through that pure flowing gold that was the air. 

On neck and shoulder every man who dreamed 
Felt the anointing. Then the first files leapt 
A foaming torrent. And now the whole host streamed 
Through a great gorge, wherein the waters wept. 

The high rock walls reechoed. But, pushing through, 
"Halt !" rang the curt command from lip to lip. 
For there the armies trembled at a view 
Had won the Devil to apostleship. 

And high on Timur's tall white elephant 
The soft gold curtains of the howdah shake. 
They part. The tyrant's eyes, now suppliant, 
Stare like a seventh sleeper's roused awake. 

So still — ah, God, so still ! For far before 

And far below their cliff, where veered the road. 

Dim orange plains flowed like an open moor 

To where, against the sky, the Great Wall showed. 

Along a mountainous horizon low 
Like a coiled frosty dragon-snake it curled 
Conforming to the summits' ebb and flow 
And stretching to the ends of all the world. 

[ 23] 




The Great White Wall 




Almost that mile-high mountain seemed to lift, 
Sacred Pe-cha, beyond it, — for so clear 
The cold was, that it set their minds adrift 
On dawns in some far richer atmosphere. 

A vast mysterious land, — its borders clung 
With gorgeous fable ! There silver maidens sang, 
And, from the haunted forests of Shantung, 
Crawled forth the emerald Dragon King, Lung Wang. 

From Pih-chih-lee's wide gulf to the dark gorge 
Of the dragons' gate — a perilous Paradise, 
Where grinning devils spat flame like a forge 
And fox-wives wooed lost men with treacherous eyes ! 

Yes, there the oily Yellow River wound 
By bamboo palaces and tortoise isles ; 
Enchanters fought with tigers underground 
And trees grew snow for miles on orchard miles. 

And where the far Five Sacred Mountains rose, — 
Rotund and almond-eyed, his slightest nod 
Opening a fiery earthquake on his foes — 
There sate in state the Jade Imperial God! 

So through the dusk that softly came to shroud, 
They gazed and marvelled at the Great White Wall; 
Grandees and horsemen huddled in a crowd. 
The elephants' breathing pulsing over all. 

[ 34 ] 



The Great White Wail 

By gorge and crag it seemed to crawl accursed. 
Coiled back to watch them with a lingering eye: 
That fitting triumph of the Only First 
Whose wordless tablet crumbles on Mount Tai! 

With a deep sigh the Prince let fall the silk; 
Then, turning to a slave-girl white as milk 
Who crouched among the scented cushions piled 
Within the howdah, he murmured — strangely mild — 
"Sing, slave, sing of my dreams, and soothe my spirit !' 

In the swaying gloom, so soft he scarce could hear it. 
Her voice began — her lute-strings faintly ringing 
To the climbing, lulling cadence of her singing: 



Song of Timur's Dreams 

Visions and dreams from the horn-gate and ivory gate 
Through the fastnesses flowing with sleep. 
Symbol and sign of a Line ancient, gorgeous and great. 
Planets auspicious and horoscopes, early and late 
Timur plucked forth from the Deep. 

Lo, he dreamed him a dream! 
Out of deep sleep flowed the real on the senses that 
seem! 

The Prophet swam first on his eyes. He on whom be the 

grace Y ,^ 

Of God, — who divided the moon, 

[25] 





The Great White Wall 




By which miracle shown, He alone has looked £uU on 

the face 
Of the Highest ! The One and True Prophet, he pleads 

to our race. 
In our souls are we his, late or soon. 

Aye, from depths of a dream 
Out of deep sleep loomed that Form that the heathen 

blaspheme ! 

"Because of thy noble compassion for Mine/' said the 

Voice, 
"For my Syeds thou shepherdest well. 
Seventy seed of thy line shall arise to rejoice. 
Earth in their ears shall resound with an excellent 

noise !" 
Softly the syllables fell. 

From the gleam of a dream 
Out of deep sleep comfort streamed on the senses that 

seem. 

And next there appeared a great net that was cast in 

the sea 
And withdrawn, and laid wide on the sand. 
Crocodiles, shining large fish, in its mesh seemed to be. 
Each golden-geared, with a crown, with a crown and a 

key! 
Flashing they shimmered to land. 

Great tench, carp, and bream 
Symbolled the cities and lands Timur's sword should 

redeem! 

[26 ] 




The Great White Wall 



Ere the battle with Tucktumush Khan, lo, he saw the 

sun rise 
In the East, but sink back to the East! 
And before Hindustan he perceived, as it seemed to his 

eyes. 
Nests beset with fierce birds, whence he drove them with 

slings and with cries: 
So his victories waxed and increased! 

Victories vain in a dream? . . 
Nay! Timur rouses. Be faithful, my lute, to thy theme! 

Camping toward Syria, high on a mountain he stood 
In sleep. Clouds of dust black and white 
(The armies of Egypt and Syria) strongly pursued 
Till rain like straight steel made the plain hiss and 

boil . . and his mood 
Laughed aloud in victorious light. 

O'er the war of a dream 
Timur was loosed like the heavenly torrents that stream! 

He saw a vast shade-tree whose branches spread over 

the skies. 
Whence in various shower there fell 
Rich colored fruits — and great cattle with cavernous 

eyes. 
Reptiles and birds, all with claws and with clamorous 

cries, 
Rushed to feast on the strange miracle. 
The tree, it would seem. 
Was the Tree of his House — with the future defaming 

his dream! 

[27 ] 





'^'^ Princess Yin''^ 



The Great White Wall 

Falcons^ and Lions^ and Swords, and rich Flagons of 

Wine 
Timur dreamed. Sleep disclosed to his reign 
A Desert — a Garden — each spread for the symbol and 

sign 
Of his actions of evil or good: all the gems of the mine. 
All the carcasses strewn on the plain! 

In a dream . . in a dream . . 
Softly! He sleeps. . . Ah, if only the real could but 

seem! 

Yes, the Prince slept. The howdah rocked and swung. 

The golden curtains stirred. The slave-girl curled 

Her ivory limbs, swathed in their gauzy silks. 

And rested chin on hand. Kohl-painted lids 

Drooped over desolate, passionate violet eyes. 

Thin swirls of incense, from a few pastilles 

In a white jade bason, fluttered across the shadows. 

The Prince slept. And, at first, 'twas deep and blank 

Untraced by any finger of fantasy, — 

Utter unconsciousness. But at the last 

After an hour or near, a dim light dawned 

Upon his somnolent senses. 

As if veil 
Over half-transparent filmy veil withdrew 
To faintest music, gradually he saw 
A landscape shimmer before him, vivid and clear. 

Cherry and plum tree with white and rosy blooms 
Sprinkled a faint green hillside where it rose 

[ 29 ] 






The Great White Wall 

To foothills and to one high snow-capped mountain 
From fields of tea and channelled paddies of rice. 
Below, a one-legged marabou on a dam 
Stood motionless, its head dropped 'twixt its wings. 
Above, a rosy flamingo floated by. 

Yet as his eyes concentred on the slope 
Closer it seemed to move, a nearer picture, 
Distinct with bright details. 

He saw the quaint 
Peaked and scrolled roof of a pagoda temple 
Higher, where a road wound up between the trees 
With occasional shallow steps. The temple hung 
On a cliff that dropped to some great plain just past 
The border of his sight . . And then he saw. 
Moving with large sleeves like a butterfly's wings. 
Her hair curved up like a little scorpion's tail. 
Thrust through with silver pins, — and her wide robe's 
Weird-patterned folds falling to tiny feet 
Set upon ivory pattens, — in all her sweetness 
Of rosy girlhood, he saw the Princess Yin! 

She held a willow basket. She was seeking 
For violets in the grass, and yellow flowers 
Of the bignonia, and tender thorii~f erns ; 
Rustling about beneath a russet pear-tree. 
Afloat like a fairy denizen of Heaven! 
Her lips moved. Strangely he heard, and knew, her 
song: 

[30] 




The Great White Wall 



"I am so happy! 

Ah^ mulberry tree, pretty friend, how happy am I ! 

willows, willows, weep not ! O butterfly 

In your brilliant brocade, what wonder you flutter and 

fly 

Dizzily twirling into the beautiful sky ! 

"I am so happy ! 

Winter is always rain, and foresters binding 

Their firewood faggots, — and winds that are cruel and 

blinding ; 
But the Spring brings his porcelain whistle and bamboo 

flute 
And sits making merry music where all the grasses were 

mute. 
Yes, even the blind musicians, I hear them tinkling now 
At their ritual music- frames in the temple of Chow ! 

"In my father's shooting park the soft-nosed deer 

Are all afrolic. Fuzzy horns — so funny! — 

As soft as velvet have just begun to appear 

On the little ones' heads. . . I shall hang paper money 

On the mulberry tree, and strew many colored beans 

Around its roots — and then — will you tell me what it 

means. 
Most Honorable Sir Mulberry.'' Will you tell me why 

1 am so happy today.'' Oh so happy, so happy am II 

"The Filial doves are cooing very sweetly 

All through the oaks. And, at night, the Rabbit-Net 

Is such a jewelled constellation set 

[31 ] 




^"■^^ 






The Great White Wall 

Beyond my window, its beauty beguiles me completely 
When the egrets are flying across the cloudy moon. 
Oh soon he will come ! I am sure he will come soon. 
My excellent Prince, on a pony silver-shod, 
With sun-patterns on his sleeves and the sash o£ a 

mountain-god. . . 
And I shall show him — why, I shall show him you, 
You funny little yellow duck, with such a waddle 
Around our straw-stack — your flat red bill and your 

nodding green-tufted noddle ! 

"And I shall show him the stack-yard greenbeaks peck- 
ing. 
And we will sit at a table of split bamboo 
And eat lychee-nuts and ginger, and drink pink tea, — 
And feed the deer in the park wild celery. 
And count the carp. And he will say to me, 
'You are my little barbel taken in a wicker net 
And your eyes are like the dew on the violet, 
And your hands are like white sea-shells on the beach !* 
Oh how very happy we'll be, oh how very happy we'll be, 
My lordly Lover ! . . That will be pleasant speech ! 

"So, see, you old black-lipped sheep, cropping on with 

never a stop. 
See! I shall drop 

These acorns and these sow-thistles into this pool 
So soft and green and cool. 
For a charm ! . . And I shall try 
All this month to embroider so faithfully and well 
And excellently obey the little bell 

[ 32 ] 



h^^'^^^^^^:^^^ 


^ 


V 








^?jf==^^f^^^" 






» ^ ■ — " 





The Great White Wall 



That the Prince will just have to ride his pattering pony- 
out of the sky. 
For oh so happy — oh so happy — oh so happy am I 
That I wish to cry!" 

The vision wavered and broke to dancing colors 

As the Princess ceased her carol. Plunged in darkness. 

The roots of Timur's heart seemed to wrench and tear 

With a dreadful anguish mingled of joy and pain. 

A burning hunger dragged claws across his breast. 

A mysteriously sweet radiance filled his mind 

With the licking flames of countless brilliant candles. 

He stretched his thick-sinewed arms, and deep in his 

throat 
Rumbled a hoarse and incoherent cry. 
He strained toward the vanished dream. 

And his opening eyes 
Looked into other stars of frightened violet, 
Far other ! For through a shaking mist of incense 
His crouched white slave-girl eyed him across the rugs. 
Under them jolted and rocked the burly back 
Of his tramping elephant. Through fluttering silks 
He heard the rumbling rhythm of his marching host, 
Mixed with sharp cries and sudden scourging horns. 

But among the poled pavilions surging down 
The mountain road, a shrouded iron cage 
Swayed underneath that lion with Kublai's soul. 
In misery of the journey, the tawny beast 
Lay huddled in one far corner. 

[ 33 ] 




The Great White Wall 




What lit his eyes 
Suddenly now, as he raised his head to listen? 
Some ghost of a groan from his master's leading how- 

dah? . . 
His gaze took a brooding human thoughtfulness. 



IV 

The Outer Wall 

They pitched their camp before the Great White Wall 

In milky moonlight. Every noise was hushed. 

Far stretched the picket lines. The tents rose tall. 

Within his own, great Timur, fever-flushed, 

Paced the thick carpet. To his breast was crusht 

A young fresh phantom, a being clothed in Spring, 

Yet all — illusion? . . Then swift utterance rushed 

On his ears — he roused — and saw Axalla fling 

The tent-flap wide, and usher in a Mandarin like a King. 

With them came Odmar. . . Ah ! He remembered now. 
This Mandarin was the Lord of Vauchefou. 
The three made swift obeisance. Timur's brow 
Cleared with his thought. The night set work to do. 
Short was that audience, but the talk once through 
Certain success dazzled in Timur's eyes. 
This Chinese renegade had sworn he knew 
The Wall's one hidden flaw. And then the prize 
Was in their grasp, their entry won to China's sick 
surprise. 

[ 34 ] 



The Great White Wall 

"For/' said the Lord, "dim lies the Lake Hogeen 
A short march distant. Only stars can frown 
Through its thick border undergrowth, the screen 
To a dark tunnel. And many a flaming town 
Shall curse the stones that year by year slipped down 
Into that lake that yonder saps the Wall. 
I can supply the raftage, lest you drown. 
You shall slide through as slithering lizards crawl. 
And then — revenge! Revenge!" he spat with seething 
gall. 

"I was a Prince too faithful to my Chief. 

I rose in rank and station. And my foes 

Plotted against me. Ah, beyond belief 

Their treachery, that only my stabbed heart knows ! 

Cast off — proscribed! And more enormous grows 

My wrong with every year. I lurk at bay. 

An exile of wild horsemen. As I rose 

I fell. My castle crumbles to decay. 

The Crown divides my lands and all my rich array !" 

And so, that midnight (twelve days since they left 

The camp near Quinsai) saw a force embark 

And silently glide through the deep lake's low cleft 

Under the walls. The dense and starless dark 

Noted not silver ripple or twinkling spark. 

And far above, the great wall's dim patrol 

Stared with no hope through high swamp reeds to mark 

The steady rafts draw inward to their goal. 

The first bore Vauchefou, and Timur's savage soul. 

[ 35 ] 






The Great White Wall 

His captains urged and argued him to stay 

Lest the scheme prove a trap. He shook them off. 

Yet as Axalla softly cried, "Give way !" 

Close by the raft's side came a growling cough. 

The lion's head reared swimming. By the scruff 

Strong Timur heaved him up, stilled the dismay, 

Bade "On !" and stroked the wet mane with a rough 

Wild tenderness. And rafts as still as they 

Followed their phantom track on this most weird foray. 

Gray dawn lay still in limbo when the troops 

Crawled through dense willow thickets at last, and 

threw 
Their mantles round them, whispering in groups. 
Within the wall the Lord of Vauchefou 
Straightway toward a strategic hillside drew 
The muffled host. Dark to the moon's dim lamp 
There soared one fortress. But when the red sun slew 
The dragon night, their unsuspected camp 
At Odmar's signal from without would rush the un- 
guarded ramp. 

Timur, his hand smoothing the sparse harsh fur 

Of the shaggy lion, sate among his spears 

And heard the voice of an astrologer 

Deciphering some soldier's dreams or fears. 

The muttered words were grateful to his ears. 

He summoned him straightway. "Show my fate !" he 

croaked 
Hoarsely. The Conqueror's eyes searched in the seer's 

[ 36 ] 



The Great White Wall 



Who raised a crystal sphere, and, blackly cloaked. 
Knelt and with fluttering hands its potent ghosts in- 
voked. 

He proffered it to Timur. Closely peering 

The Chief stared through it. But the lion rose 

With bristling juba. Worse than death his fearing 

Of what those dim transparencies disclose, 

For now the glimmering ball floats with a rose 

Light, now with green, and then through swirling 

swarms 
Of sparks a cameo picture grows and grows 
To vivid life, a breathless portrait forms ! 
The Chief's eyes blazed. The beast's growl rasped like 

some far thunderstorm's. 

About a courtyard of ovens 
Chattering maids made clatter. 
A superb and portly person. 
Stiff rustling in robes, directed 
Their haste. On trays and salvers 
Smoking foods were borne. 
Roast turtle, minced carp, and bowls 
Of steaming birds-nest soup. 

About the cobbled courtyard 
Crowded the bamboo palace 
With many a peaky tower 
Red and green and painted 
With weird fantastical patterns, 
Bestuck with grinning monsters. 

[ 37 ] 





The Great White Wall 

But down in the midst of the courtyard, 

Fluttering with excitement, 

Vibrated the fairylike figure 

Of the dainty Princess Yin. 

A face of yellow blush-rose 

She turned, and pirouetted, 

Winning her nurse's frown. 

And instantly, staid and solemn, 

Took in careful hands the tray 

Of the purifying libations 

And entered a door of the palace. 

The crystal globe was clouded 
And then again glowed bright. 

Around small bamboo tables 

Gorgeous generals, marquises, 

Mandarins and officers 

Sat at a farewell feast. 

The gems on their scabbards gleamed, 

And crimson lacquer and black 

Glittered with gold inlay. 

Then a chief arose and lifted 
One of the sacred bows. 
Unbound its wrapped green silk. 
And bent it — 'mid acclamation 
From all, who stood up straightway 
And bowed to a ritual rhyme. 
[ 38 ] 




The Great White Wall 



Then all raised cups of jade 

And made a mute libation 

Of the wine the Princess proffered; 

For among those splendid costumes 

Like a fluttering bloom from the plum tree 

Tiptoed the Princess Yin. 

And then a glistering figure 
Arose, and bowed, and sang 
(Through a magic Timur heard it!) 



The Song of the Great White Wall 

"From the Eastern Sea to Shensi, the Only First 
Ruled. He had thousands of headmen at his behest; 
But all the scholars called him accurst, accurst. 
Of wolf voice, tiger heart, and pigeon breast! 
He burned all the cautious classics, and long ago 
Buried such scholars that melons took root to grow 
Above their bodies in winter ! Each mandarin 
Quaked at the will of Chin Shik Huang Ti Chin ! 

"Yet he raised a wall, a wall — from the Yellow Sea 
To the ramparts of rough Thibet. And every mile 
Stand white pagodas built of the bravery 
Of the bones of its proud defenders. No man of guile 
Was Chin, but a forthright builder and leader of men. 
Yet one, in our time, has come like his son again. 
The King, my friends ! Let your warrior voices ring ! 

[39 ] 






The Great White Wall 

Bow to the East and bow to the West — the King! 
Bow to the North and bow to the South — the King!" 

And again the crystal clouded. 

Now, on a wide white road, 
Were seen the revolving wheels 
Of the bright war-carriages 
Of sandalwood. Within them 
Behind chequered bamboo screens, 
With embroidered red knee-covers 
And helms of vermilion tassels 
And gold and velvet slippers. 
The bowing Peers went by. 

Officers of the army. 

With leopard-skin cuffs, and collars 

Of scarlet adorned with fox-fur. 

Whirled behind pure white steeds 

Black-maned, and piebald ponies 

Guided by six silk reins. 

With golden breast-bands glancing. 

Jinglers and drummers passed. 

The drums of lizard-skin leaping; 

Archers with ivory bows 

And bowstring-thimble and armlet 

Of ivory; and footmen 

With colored lacquer cuisses 

And lances with scarlet streamers. 

[ 40 ] 




The Great White Wall 



And then the blowing flags 

With blazonry of birds ; 

The tortoise and serpent banners 

With oxtails over all 

Streaming forth in a wind from the North 

A violent wind. 

"The drums beat — the drums 

Beat — and the Great White Wall 

Is a whetstone for sharpening swords !" 

He heard the cry go by. 

"The orders are black on the tablets. 

The drums are calling, — the drums !" 

But he saw at the gate of a garden, 

Uplifted by armed men. 

The form of the Princess Yin 

Stretching her hands to the host. 

She wept, "The Filial doves 

Have flown — but the drums are calling. 

The maces of white jade 

Dance with the great red bows. 

And the torches smoke in the courtyard 

And the princely men go forth !" 

Timur reeled back, his hands before his eyes. 
"Aye, they are well prepared. They do not wait. 
Yet shall our sudden and shattering surprise 
Strow them like leaves from gate to guarded gate. 
The hour approaches — the hour that is too late ! 
And — ah, her face, her face ! She waits me there 

[ 41 ] 





The Great White Wali, 

When I sweep on her like a wind of Fate !" 
He rose and stretched his arms — and met the glare 
Full in his own of questioning orbs, the great lion's 
steady stare! 



V 



The Inner Wall 

"The birds cry out 'Ying ! ying !' " 
Said the Princess wandering 
On the flowery temple hillside. 
"Birds, why do you sing? 

"Why do you call my name? 
This day remains the same. 
The cranes in the marshes crying 
Answer my cry of flame. 

"By reeds and tortoiseshell 

Can one divine it well, 

This sorrow that eats the heart out. 

This croak of a broken bell? 

"The bushy medlars blow 

And the cherries are pink with snow 

And Kiang and Han and Ho 

On their sacred courses flow 

With yellow-jaws and sand-blowers 

Winnowing to and fro. 

[ 42 ] 



The Great White Wall 

"But I am sick with dread 
And dust is on my head^ 
For the great red bows are bended 
And the han-pa wait for the dead ! 

"Hao mo? — are you well? 
Climbing people, answer and tell 
If you know how sways the battle. 
How the mandarins fought or fell ! 

"Burning perfumes on a tomb. 
Fluttering papers in the gloom. 
Sepulchres closed within the mountain, — 
The white and empty room ! 

"Courtiers, passing, why are ye 
White-faced, hurrying. Can it be 
That the tide has turned against us? 
Is there then some treachery? 

"Take the white silk — draw it tight. 
Recreants, flying from the fight ! 
So die strangling! For my father 
Comes a hero home tonight !" 

Thus, half madly, wandering. 

Hear the little Princess sing 

On the flowery templed hillside. 

While the bright birds call "Ying ! ying !' 

[ 43] 






The Great White Wall 

So she climbed higher in the early morning 

While hurrying figures streamed along the slope 

On the temple road. They passed and passed for hours 

It seemed. Silent and ashen-faced they passed 

In brown or gray robes fluttering, shuffling through 

The mounting dust. 

And then at last she saw 
Two riders threading bridges through the rice-fields 
Below. She climbed to the temple and wandered out 
On its wide rampart high above the plains. 
Far off it seemed she could see faint waving banners 
On the Wall — ^but all was very, very far. 
She viewed the riders from this higher coign 
Till finally they gained the road below 
And slowly, painfully began to climb. 
A strong foreboding laid hands upon her heart. 
Again she wandered out, drawn down the road. 
At last she saw the ponies' nodding necks 
Their spatter of muck and mire as high as the crupper. 
Their patient faces streaked with darker sweat. 
Their black lips tossing foam. The riders too 
Were splashed over all their lacquer. Bareheaded both 
They rode, with naked scimitars at their sides. 
One broken and one stained, 

"Knights . ." she began. 
"The golden luck dishes of the thousand li 
Are lost!" coughed one. "By great Chin's chameleon 

dog 
Never have I seen such fighting ! This Timur 
Is far more monster than the Double Double ! 

[ 44 ] 




The Great White Wall 



Horses and furniture and arms are lost. 

He has brought great artilleries and rams 

And slings that heave huge stones. But have you heard 

The worst: it was that execrable Lord 

The Outcast let them in \" 

"That let them in? 
That let them in?" 

"Verily ! Overnight 
He sent them through an old breach in the Wall 
On rafts !" 

The sunlight reeled around the Princess. 

"And the King's cousin is taken," the man went on. 

"Slaughter bestrides the plain of Paguinfou. 

A squadron of the Tartars following us 

Press close. The Parthians in escalade 

Have beaten old Prince Li, and he is slain." 

"What — what Prince Li?" 

"Why, the old General, the Good Councillor, 

Lady, you faint . . here!" 

"No !" the Princess said 
Gathering herself erect. "But you? Deserters?" 
"We ride on a desperate mission to warn the towns 
And the battalions of the cantons. Come ! 
You are not safe here. Why, in half an hour 
The barbarians will be splashing through the rice. 
Up on my crupper I" 

And then the man who spoke 
She saw was but a boy. Through all the mud 
And blood that stained his face, his white teeth flashed 

[ 45 ] 





The Great White Wall 

In a beguiling grin — that instantly changed. 

His teeth clicked shut. He clutched his saddle-bow. 

"You are wounded?" 

"No!" he gasped. "Nothing! But you 

Must come with us \" 

She shook her little head. 
And lied. "I — I — am waiting for — my father!" 
And turned and ran in her pattens toward the temple. 

"Come, come!" said his rough companion. "We mus 

on ! 
She says she does not need us. Past a doubt 
Her parents have instructed her to wait. 
And we have miles before us, and the hope 
0£ the kingdom on our shoulders !" 

They rode on. 

At the temple parapet the Princess Yin 

Leaned sobbing, her bent black head within her arms. 

Too sudden and too fierce that dreadful news. 

She could not grasp it. Only, through all her limbs. 

An utter lassitude of purpose shivered, 

And she forgot both time and place and peril. 

Her father, her dear father, her brave father! 

Then through her grief another face and name 
Began to thrust. She overheard again 
The words her father hissed to a councillor 
Departing from his palace: "Yes! Vauchefou . . 
The dastard! . . Instant message — for the King!" 

[ 46 ] 




The Great White Wall 

She well remembered how his rising power 
Was bruited round the kingdom; she remembered— 
A hot blush stained her cheeks— how he had met 
And grasped her in that orchard, once, and how 
Her father's scimitar as suddenly gleamed 
Between the trees. He stared hard at that Lord, 
Ordered her to the park,— and, scurrying o&, 
She heard high voices. It was little later 
That he was banished. 

As she thought, her eyes 

Wandered across the plains. . . 

No! Was it true? 

It was not true,— those must be Chinese horsemen 
Came on so fast! 

She saw the silver water 
Flash in the sun under their plunging mounts. 
Pell-mell, breakneck, galloping on they came 
By bridge or paddy or any likely way. 
And how they rode — and what a forest of spears 
And swords they brandished! . . No, it was not true! 

She pressed her hands to her eyes, and looked again; 
Then, all at once, was horribly afraid. 

As if a vise of ice had gripped her limbs 

She stood and stared. Now some were near enough — 

Just splashing out of the rice to gain the road 

Below there — for her eyes to note their dress. 

Their barbarous appointments, the strange large horses 

They sat, their wild formation, the rude crude armor 



[ 47 ] 






The Great White Wall 

They wore so carelessly. The leading squadron 
Dashed up the first stretch and were hidden by a turn. 
A great brown dog (as it seemed) came bounding with 
them. 

"Sacred ancestors ! Where to fly ?" She ran 

Round to the temple door. The road climbed steep 

Beyond the temple, steep and straight away. 

They would surely see her. Oh, if she had not strayed 

This morning ! But her mother's stony eyes. 

She thought, had driven her mad . . her mother had 

seen 
Too many wars . . She was wandering again . , 
And there . . ! 

Inside the dusky temple she whisked 
Kicking her pattens far across the paving. 

The first quick horse-hoofs sounded on the road. 

Fearfully, like a ghost, she flitted her way 

Behind a pillar of the deserted house 

Of the Tao priests — and was lost in distant shadow. 

But scarcely was she hidden when a blacker 
Great shadow fell from the doorway. 

In they swarmed 
Cursing and laughing, clanking and clattering weapons, 
Laying immediate hands on the holy altar 
And haling from it sacred vessel and relic; 

[ 48 ] 




The Great White Wall 



Hacking the images, roughly playing horse. 
Screeching and roaring, hurling a bloody head. 
One bore at his belt, about the ranks for a ball. 
Bellowing. . . 

And then she saw the Chief, 
Timur himself (though this she could not know). 
Standing apart, brooding, biting his lip — 
A fresh cut from a Chinese scimitar 
Bloody across his cheek, his dress awry, 
His felt boots splashed with mire, his purple hair 
And long mustachios tangled. 

Yes, and then 
She caught a glimpse of that large tawny dog 
Slinking here and there among the roisterers. 

But when the lion's great mournful visage looked 
Around the pillar, she was not afraid. 
It had come noiselessly on velvet pads 
And stood regarding her. But in its eyes 
There was something pitiful, and very brave. 
And nothing cruel. 

So the slender girl 
And the great beast stood at gaze a moment's space. 

Then, craftily, the lion turned its eyes 

To scan the staggering barbarians 

Splashing holy wine on the altar steps ; 

With what seemed one long supple movement, now 

It slank to a half-hidden little door 

Behind the girl, and pushed and nuzzled it 

[ 49 ] 





The Great White Wall 

Whining softly^ faintly. 

She flitted like a glint 
Of light — both beast and girl were through the door 
That closed^ upon the instant, noiselessly. 

But the dark Chief, with a hunger at his heart 
Gnawing like tigers' teeth, his rolling eyes 
Turning this way and that in baffled search 
For the ghost of a phantom of a secret vision, 
Had seen. 

He cast an eye upon his men 
Obliviously shouting and careering. 
He strolled between the pillars carelessly 
With the thick blood throbbing thunderous in 

temples, 
And he too found the door. 

He kicked it wide 
Suddenly with his foot. 

The girl sat crouched 
Upon the cliffward parapet, her head 
Buried in the lion's mane whose muzzle upthrust 
Beneath her. The small jutting balcony 
Was hung like a swallow's nest against the wall 
With no way down. 

Like a flash the lion turned 
Snarling; but Timur's eyes were not on him. 

As the girl, bewildered, raised her weeping face 

He knew her, and all his blood sang through his body 

Molten and mad. Here was his long desire! 

[ 50 ] 



his 




The Great White Wall 

He crossed his arms ; and yet his arms stretched out 

Beyond his will. But the girl's deathly face 

Read all the ogrish black enormity 

Of her country's ruin and her father's death 

In lines of fire upon that countenance. 

Tottering she raised herself; with awful eyes 

She stared upon him. Her bosom rose and fell. 

The lion stood large and terrible between them. 

Then, clenching hands, without a single sound 
Outward she sprang. Against the reeling sky 
She fluttered the veriest instant, and was gone. 

With a cry — but as he moved the lion rose 
Horribly roaring at Timur. He started back. 
The door behind him filled with faces devilish 
And daunted. 

For a moment the issue swung, 
Until, while hands shot forth to stay his arm. 
The Chief — all Tartar now — tugged out the blade 
Of his flashing scimitar. His whistling breath 
Labored his breast. In true demoniac rage 
He raised the sword. 

And then the lion spoke. 

"Timur!" it said. "Timur! Timur!" it said. 

The strange voice from the throat of that great beast 
Standing with bulging tendons, its black mane 

[ 51 ] 






''Horribly Roaring'' 




The Great White Wall 

Bristling erect^ its yellow eyes slits of wrath. 
Clutched at the necks of the barbarians. 

Terribly again 

"Timur!" it said. "Timur! Timur!" it said. 
"The lion dies. My soul will leave its prison. 
My one good deed was fruitless — but that God, 
In whose reins is infinite compassion, knows 
My intent, and gives my weary soul release!" 

And, as the silence grew, and the great lion 
Began to sway before them on shuffling feet, 
"Timur," it said, "0 Conqueror, the world 
Is ever a wall within a wall; the world 
Is a golden vessel filled with scorpions 
And serpents! Are our destinies predicted. 
Written upon our foreheads? But the Wall, 
The wall within, the wall you cannot take . . f 

Slowly the filmed eyes closed. The lion sank 
In death before them. 

And then, as if a smoke 
Blurred everything, they were suddenly aware 
Of a great form appearing on the sky 
Above the parapet, in splendid robes 
Jewelled and girdled, and glorious regalia. . . 
And Timur knew great Kublai's eyes upon 
His eyes. The two stood giving gaze for gaze 
Till the shape faded. 

[ 53 ] 





The Great White Wali, 

Still staring^ the sight of all 
Pierced through the air — saw, past the plains^ The 

Wall. 
Even as they watched, a flame-reddened smoke went up 
On the nearest tower, — their signal of victory! 



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